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King carrot and other Danish sayings

Most of us use colourful sayings to pepper our conversations and all languages have some funny and weird expressions. Find out the meanings of common Danish sayings such as King Carrot or Shoot the parrot and much more.

King carrot and other Danish expressions

We all use colourful sayings to pepper our conversations and all languages have some funny and weird idioms. Danes use a lot of strange expressions and here you'll find a few of them.

Camilla Svane

Copenhagen Language Center

In the beginning, when first learning Danish, you have no immediate use for the different colourful sayings of the Danish language. Your focus is naturally on gaining the language skills required to order a cup of coffee or read a letter from the bank.

As speaking Danish becomes more and more natural, you gradually start to notice more than a few expressions with 'figurative meaning'.

Teaching the Danish language is our bread and butter and learning a language is more than just knowing the most necessary phrases. Idiomatic expressions can sound absolutely ridiculous but provide colour and spice to any language.

Don't come here and play King carrot

If someone acts just a tad too superior or stuck-up, a Dane will say, ‘Don’t come here and play king carrot’.

The expression is supposed to originate from a French satiric operetta ‘Le Roi Carotte’ by Jacques Offenbach from 1872. In this light opera, the carrot leads a rebellion, where all the vegetables in the kitchen garden seize power in France.

A hen to pluck with you

In Danish we do not 'pick a bone' with somebody, instead we 'pluck a hen'. f you want a serious word with someone because of their bad behavior, you might say, ‘I have a hen to pluck with you’. This expression is popular in several other countries as well e.g. Germany and the Netherlands.

Go totally in fish

Another expression to relay that something is a complete fail or that someone made a hash of things involves cold-blooded animals. If your plans go horribly wrong, a Dane could say, 'It's all gone in fish'.

A similar expression goes 'things went in goat' and also refers to an unsuccesful venture. Why the Danes use the animal kingdom to explain failure we have no idea.

It bottles itself

While 'cake or fish in your plans' means something was unsuccessful, the exact opposite is true, if you put it in a bottle. If a Dane wants to reassure someone, s/he might say, ‘Don’t worry, it will all bottle itself’.

What's on the wallpaper today?

If a Dane wants to know today's plans, s/he might say, ‘What’s on the wallpaper today?’

The story goes that during the Renaissance people used to call a table cloth for 'tapet' and the expression was a way to ask if more food was on it's way. Today the meaning is 'what's today's order of business?'